


Finger on the Trigger to My Dear Juliet

by tyler-nohomo-dun (kdencayden)



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Gen, I am so sorry, choose your own angst, its like semi-ambiguous Joshler, there isnt too much else to say about this other than i'm sorry, tyler and josh are forced to play russian roulette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 00:56:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5270537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kdencayden/pseuds/tyler-nohomo-dun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh and Tyler find themselves in a dimly lit room, being forced to play Russian Roulette against each other.</p><p>**Has multiple endings, choose your own</p><p>Title is from Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliche by Escape the Fate</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written because i hate myself and i hate love and puppies and everything good
> 
> tylerrobertjosephdun.tumblr.com

Josh wakes up slowly, falling out of darkness back into himself as though he’s being poured into a plaster mould of Joshua Dun. He hears someone crying, not just someone… _Tyler._ Tyler’s outright sobbing in the least pretty of ways, his shoulders heaving and snot running down his face.

“Ty?” Josh whispers, his voice almost not cooperating with him, sitting upright in his chair, groaning at the pressure in his arms, handcuffed behind him to what seems to be the base of the chair. He doesn’t look around, he can’t, not when Tyler’s right there and he NEEDS him.

“J-Josh…” Tyler looks up from the table, where he’d been staring at his handcuffed hands in front of him. “Oh, God, Joshy…” He sounds broken, defeated, his eyes glassy and far away as he meets Josh’s eyes.

Josh almost wrenches his arms out of their sockets attempting to sit bolt upright, to comfort his friend, instead falling back with a yelp, hearing Tyler sob noisily. He blows a breath up, puffing his bangs out of his face, moving his hands slowly to see if he can get them free.

After a moment, only the clinking of Josh’s handcuffs and Tyler’s muttered prayers to be heard, the door to the room they’re in opens. Both men look over, seeing a man in a balaclava. Tyler chokes, burying his head in his hands.

“Hello, Tyler Joseph.” The man addresses Tyler first, before locking eyes with Josh. “Hello, Joshua Dun.”

“You SON OF A BITCH!” Josh’s voice makes Tyler cringe, recoiling away from the man and raising his hands defensively. It’s not often that Josh raises his voice, mostly due to how anxious Tyler gets, but the situation seems to warrant it, “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

“Josh.” Tyler whimpers, shaking his head. “Don’t, he’s got-” He was about to inform Josh that their captor was carrying a gun, but cut himself off as said gun was suddenly leveled in his face, eyes shooting wide as saucers.

“Do you want to rethink that statement, Joshua?”

Josh froze.

“I... Don’t hurt him, don’t, I’m sorry!” He didn’t breathe, waiting a long moment, eyes locked on the gun. Tyler didn’t move, frozen in place. He didn’t even seem to blink.

The gun is lowered, set on the table. “Good decision, Joshua.”

Josh clenches his jaw. “Can you stop referring to us by our full names?” Tyler stares straight ahead, eyes unfocused. He seems frozen, and Josh is mildly worried about him.

“Your wrists must be sore. Let me help you.” Reaching down, Josh feels the pressure on his wrists loosen, and he pulls his arms forward gratefully, stretching the sore muscles. The man removes Tyler’s handcuffs as well, but the man doesn’t visibly react, still staring into space. “Tyler Joseph.” The man tries to get his attention, snapping his fingers in front of Tyler’s face.

“Ty…” Josh leans forward, taking Tyler’s hands in his. “Ty, come back to me.” He keeps his voice low, fearing that, if he should speak too loud, the desperate notes of his voice will ring through, and Tyler will realize just how badly Josh needs him to come back from his headspace.

“I’m here.” Tyler whispers, after a long moment. He blinks, focusing his eyes and meeting Josh’s, his hands squeezing Josh’s tightly. “I’m here.” He repeats, quieter, more to himself than to anyone else.

“Now, boys. I want you both to play a game.” The captor speaks once more, apparently pleased that Tyler’s returned. “It’s fairly simple. I’m actually quite sure you’ve both heard of it before.”

Grudgingly, Tyler looks away from Josh, making eye contact with the masked man. “A game?”

“Yes. You two are going to play Russian Roulette with each other.”

“We’re going to WHAT?!” Josh stands, eyes widening. He’s still clutching Tyler’s hands, tight enough that he can feel the small bones in Tyler’s fingers, tight enough that Tyler whimpers, having to rise as well to avoid the risk of broken bones.

“Sit down, Joshua.” The man chides. “Sit down or I will kill Tyler Joseph.” From the waistband of his pants, another gun is produced, but is not pointed anywhere in particular.

“Stop using our full names!” Josh shouts, hesitantly casting a glance to a petrified looking Tyler. Tyler seems to know what’s on Josh’s mind, because he quickly shakes his head, glancing back at Josh’s seat to signal what he wants Josh to do.

Slowly, Josh sits, Tyler keeping in line with him, until they’re back where they started, holding hands at the table in a dimly lit room.

“You’re kind of hurting me, y’know.” Tyler laughs, but it sounds forced.

“Sorry.” Josh forces himself to smile, but it doesn’t work, as Tyler shifts uncomfortably, put off by it. He loosens his grip on Tyler’s fingers to an almost lax extent, feeling his friend sigh in relief, spreading his fingers.

The gun is positioned between them on the table. “It’s time to play.”

“I can’t.” Tyler whispers, and suddenly everything is real. Josh feels like he can’t breathe, and based on the state of him, Tyler feels similarly.

“If you two don’t cooperate, you both will die.” The man continues. “It’s time to play.” He repeats his earlier statement.

“Close your eyes, Ty.” Josh whispers, and Tyler nods slowly, obliging him. He feels Josh rubbing his thumb over the back of Tyler’s hand, can feel Josh shaking, even though it’s not to the degree that he is, and their shaking meshes up one second out of every five. After a moment, he feels cool metal pressed to his forehead, directly on his ‘third eye,’ and he nearly wants to bless Josh for giving him a perfectly symmetrical death.

Josh makes a choked noise, sucking in a breath and steeling himself for the worst.

_Click._

They both visibly deflate, filling the room with twin breaths they’d been holding.

The gun is set back on the table, Josh instinctively wiping his hand on his shirt, as though it were dirty.

“Your turn, Tyler Joseph.” Their captor prods Tyler’s shoulder.

“I-I can’t-I-” Tyler sobs, shaking his head profusely. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, don’t make me, _please._ ”

“Tyler…” Josh straightens, grabbing onto to Tyler’s left hand with both of his. “Tyler, you have to… He’ll kill us both.”

“I can’t shoot you, you’re my best friend, Joshy, I can’t, I can’t, I love you too much, don’t make me…” Tyler’s outright panicking now, their captor becoming visibly annoyed.

“No, Tyler, sh, Ty, baby boy, please…” Josh whispers, squeezing Tyler’s hand. “Baby boy, little Tyler…” He’s trying to get the man to come back to Earth, hearing Tyler’s faint chanting of “I can’t, I can’t…”

“Tyler, sing for me.” Josh prods the crook of Tyler’s elbow to get his attention, the man jerking his arm back to protect the ticklish spot and finally seeming to snap out of it, meeting Josh’s eyes again. “Sing for me, Ty.”

“I… You want me to sing?”

“Yes. C’mon, your voice is beautiful, you know that… Sing for me, please.”

“I…” Tyler makes a noise, obviously unsure. “I don’t think that’s appropriate right now…”

“C’mon, Ty. Just do it. Sing.”

There’s a moment of quiet, the singer obviously unsure of what to do.

“Tyler, sing.” Josh’s voice is quiet.

“I can’t-I can’t SING, not NOW!” Tyler insists.

“Tyler. Sing.” Josh isn’t asking anymore, the all-business expression on his face almost alien to Tyler.

Tyler wracks his brain, the words to every song he knows, every song he wrote, fleeing from him as he needs them. But Josh wants him to sing, so he decides to just make something up.

 _“We’re here… Just me and Josh…”_ His voice is thin, quavering, and Josh squeezes his hand tightly. _“I don’t wanna be here, I wanna go home…_ I’m scared, Josh…”

“Me too…” Josh agrees, nodding. He takes Tyler’s other hand in his. “Keep singing.”

 _“I can’t think of any words… I don’t know any rhymes… I don’t wanna be here… Why can’t we just go home…?”_ He feels something being pressed into his hand, his fingers wrapped around the unfamiliar object, knowing what it is but refusing to acknowledge it, eyes shut tightly. His hand is raised, grip on the object adjusted, and he’s sure now that his hand is level with Josh’s forehead, especially as Josh squeezes his hand, forcing Tyler to pull the trigger.

_Click._

Tyler outright sobs, dropping the gun as if it burnt him. He begins rocking in place, unable to stop, his hands running at an uncontrollable pace through his hair.

“Tyler! Tyler, come back to me, baby boy…” Josh’s voice sounds far away, and Tyler shakes his head, forgoing running his hands through his hair for covering his ears, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

He feels something pressed to his hair, and for a moment, he thinks it’s Josh’s lips.

_Click._

There’s a clatter, the gun dropped to the table, and Josh’s lips really are pressed to his hair, the man murmuring apologies that Tyler can barely hear as he wraps his arms as fully around Tyler as he can with the table in the way. “Fuck, I’m so sorry, I love you, Ty, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

A sharp yank to the pink-purple locks of Josh’s hair has the man releasing Tyler, falling back into his assigned chair. “Pick up the gun, Tyler Joseph.” Josh makes a pained noise, his hair being pulled tightly, almost coming out in a clump in their captor’s hand. “Now.”

Tyler shakes his head. “Let Josh go, please! You’re hurting him!”

“I’ll do a lot more than pull his hair if you don’t _pick up the gun. Now.”_ A knife is brandished, the tip coming into contact with Josh’s throat, leaving a scarlet sliver in its wake as it traces a nonsense pattern down the man’s neck.

Tyler scrambles for the gun, holding in it two hands. “Please!”

“It’s your turn, Tyler Joseph, play the game. Point and shoot, c’mon, it’s easy. Just aim for Joshua’s pretty face, and shoot.”

Tyler makes an inhuman sobbing noise, hands shaking so violently he nearly drops the gun back onto the table. “Josh, Josh, I’m sorry…”

“Just do it, Ty… you have to…” Josh meets Tyler’s eyes with wide ones of his own.

A bit of fumbling, Tyler’s never _shot a gun before, damn it,_ and he manages to get a good grip, squeezing his eyes shut tightly before pulling the trigger.

_Click._

Josh sags completely, going limp. He can’t believe they’ve both made it this far, only one shot apiece left.

As he’s released completely, leaning forward to brush his hand against Tyler’s forehead, Josh considers the odds.

It’s a straight 50/50 chance. Either… Either he kills his best friend, sending Tyler’s life splattering across the wall behind him… Or… And this might be the worse of the two, Tyler kills him. It wouldn’t be so bad to die, Josh thinks, but he certainly can’t leave Tyler. He could never leave Tyler. It’s going to be the two of them, Josh and Tyler, Twenty-One Pilots, Ty and Jish, Baby Boy, Dog Breath, Joshy, Blurryface, pick your poison, until the end of time.

Josh doesn’t have a doubt in his mind that, if he’s the one to go tonight, Tyler will join him as soon as the younger man is able. And Tyler’s got too beautiful a brain and too beautiful a soul to die here and now.

Josh isn’t normally one for poetic thoughts.

He picks the gun up for the last time, seeing Tyler go stiff. They meet each other’s eyes, and everything seems to slow down for a good minute or ten, the two of them staring at each other.

The spell is broken by Tyler, who forces a shy smile. “I love you.”

“I…” Josh’s throat is dry, not enough saliva in his mouth to rewet it. “I love you too, Tyler.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Choose your ending from this point on! The next four chapters are the alternate endings. One is good, the other three, well...
> 
> I'm sorry.


	2. Option 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first ending.

Josh raises the gun, cocks it carefully, moving in what seems to be slow motion for a split second. He turns towards their captor, raising the gun, but the man is faster than Josh.

It only takes a second, only a split second before Tyler hears a gunshot at roughly the same time he’s sprayed by something he doesn’t dare name.

He starts screaming, and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever stop, Josh’s glazed over eyes staring up at him from where the man is slumped backwards onto the table. Tyler rises from his seat, tearing his hair out in two easy chunks, one from either side of his head. He’s not even screaming words at this point, he’s just _screaming,_ an unending vowel.

Their captor prods Josh to one side with the toe of his boot, his best friend falling from the table onto the floor unceremoniously. Tyler drops to his knees, grabbing Josh’s hands in his.

“No, Josh, no, please wake up, this isn’t right…” He’s sobbing, his tears mingling with the bloody hole in Josh’s forehead. “Josh, you gotta wake up, Joshy…”

“Well. I guess I’ll have to take Joshua’s turn for him.” The man, Josh’s _killer,_ picks the gun up from the table. He points it at Tyler, and Tyler stares straight down the barrel of it, fear gone from his eyes, as if daring a bullet to rip through his skull.

The police find their bodies a few days later, hands still entwined.

The case is labelled a murder-suicide, with Tyler as the guilty party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BAD END.
> 
> Try again?


	3. Option 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second ending.

Josh holds the gun carefully, bringing it up to Tyler’s forehead for the last time. He attempts to swallow, but can’t, so he simply closes his eyes, unable to watch as he pulls the trigger.

A gunshot rings out, and Josh _wails._

“No! NO! Tyler!” He opens his eyes and immediately wishes he hadn’t. Tyler’s brains are splattered on the wall and ceiling behind the man, the gunshot slightly off-center in his forehead.

“TYLER!” Josh wails, sobs wracking through him. “FUCK!” He doesn’t even have to think as he brings the gun to his head, pulling the trigger.

Josh pulls the trigger again and again, willing there to be another bullet hidden inside, but, as it clicks every single time, his vision blurs until he can no longer see.

“You win.” The man nods his head in Josh’s direction, exiting the room and leaving the door open behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BAD END.
> 
> Try again?


	4. Option 3.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third ending.

Josh raises the gun, cocks it carefully, moving in what seems to be slow motion for a split second, before turning abruptly, firing off two quick shots at their captor, not leaving it up to the odds to decide whether this man dies.

_Boom._

_Boom._

Josh feels his entire body shaking, bile rising in his throat. He expected it to be slower than it was, but the man simply crumpled and didn’t get up, red smearing the wall behind him.

From somewhere behind him, Josh hears Tyler throwing up onto the concrete floor.

After a good while, the two men sobbing and shaking, emptying their already empty stomachs, and one instance of Tyler crying so hard he passes out, Josh belatedly comes to the realization that there were two bullets in the gun.

Neither of them was going to make it out of here alive.

Josh throws up again, bile burning his throat.

Eventually, he feels something pressed to his neck, and oh, it’s Tyler, hiding his face in Josh’s neck and holding onto the man for dear life.

“You saved us, you saved us, I love you, fuck…” Tyler is muttering, his entire body trembling so much that Josh is amazed he can stand at all.

“We need to get the hell out of here.” Josh hears himself say, mostly detached from his own body at this point. He feels Tyler nod against the skin of his neck, but neither man moves for a long moment, breathing heavily against each other.

Finally, Tyler prods Josh into action, pulling him from the small room they were in. The two stumble from the building, leaving the body of their captor, as well as the bodies of their innocence, behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOOD END.
> 
> Try again?


	5. Option 4.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth (and final) ending.

Bringing the gun to Tyler’s forehead, Josh closes his eyes tightly before pulling the trigger for the last time.

_Click._

Both his and Tyler’s eyes spring open at the same time, staring wide-eyed at each other.

“No, nonononono,” Tyler shakes his head vehemently. “No, I can’t, no, please, please no, Josh, take another turn, please!” He grabs Josh’s hand, still holding the gun, and brings it back to his head. “Please, shoot me, I can’t, I can’t kill you!” He’s a mess, snot and tears running down his face, and Josh still wants to kiss him, wants to hold him and tell him that things will be okay.

“Tyler.” He begins, tugging his hand out of the man’s grip. “I can’t do that, I can’t…”

“I can’t kill you!” Tyler insists. “I-I can’t, I CAN’T!”

“You have to.” Josh passes Tyler the gun. “You have to.” He repeats.

“No, please!” Tyler pleads with their captor. “Please, take me instead, you can torture me, kill me, maim me, you can keep me as a fucking pet just _please_ don’t make me do this!”

If the man hears Tyler at all, he’s impassive.

Josh brings the gun up, guiding Tyler’s hand as he did for his first turn. “Tyler, you have to. You have to be brave.” Even as he’s telling Tyler to be brave, he’s trembling, tears pooling in the dip of his collarbone for a brief second before continuing their way down.

“I’m not brave without you, I’m _nothing_ without you.” Tyler insists.

“I love you.” Josh deflects.

“I love you too, fuck, so much.” Tyler wipes his face with his free hand. “I love you.”

Josh pulls the trigger, that way Tyler doesn’t have to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BAD END.
> 
> Try again?

**Author's Note:**

> Choose your ending from this point on! The next four chapters are the alternate endings. One is good, the other three, well...
> 
> I'm sorry.


End file.
